House of Fiction: Leonard, Susan and Elizabeth Jolley (UK Edition)

Description:

This book is riveting, explosive even, and also deeply moving. – Australian Book Review

Swingler can hold her own against the prose style of her famous stepmother: restrained, detailed and rendered with a beautiful eye and ear. – The Weekend Australian

Susan Swingler is the step-daughter of one of Australia’s most revered writers — the English-born Elizabeth Jolley. But behind that simple statement is a lifetime of family lies and deceptions that started when Susan’s father, Leonard Jolley, left behind his life in England — his marriage and four-year-old Susan — to make a new life in Australia with Elizabeth. Susan had no inkling of what really happened until she came across perplexing revelations at the age of 21.

The House of Fiction tells the story of Susan’s quest to discover the truth about her father. As she traces clues to a better understanding of Leonard, she inadvertently unravels an intricate fiction created by Elizabeth to deceive Leonard’s family back in England.

The House of Fiction was first published in Australia by Fremantle Press and received wide coverage and praise for being a sincere and moving memoir.